Their father would also whip them with a belt. [127] In August 2016, a medical tribunal ruled that he no longer required clinical treatment for his mental condition, and could be returned to prison. A 1980 BBC segment on the Yorkshire Ripper case, including interviews with relatives of the victims of Peter Sutcliffe. [115], On 17 February 2009, it was reported[116] that Sutcliffe was "fit to leave Broadmoor". [78], Around the time of Wilkinson's murder it was widely reported that Professor David Gee, the Home Office pathologist who conducted all the post-mortem examinations on the Ripper victims, noted similarities between the Wilkinson murder and the killing of Ripper victim Yvonne Pearson three months later. [43] On 25 November 1980, Trevor Birdsall, an associate of Sutcliffe and the unwitting getaway driver as Sutcliffe fled his first documented assault in 1969, reported him to the police as a suspect. Despite forensic evidence, police efforts were diverted for several months following receipt of the taped message purporting to be from the murderer taunting Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield of the West Yorkshire Police, who was leading the investigation. The so-called Yorkshire Ripper is finally caught by British police, ending one of the largest manhunts in history. [119][120] Mr Justice Mitting stated: This was a campaign of murder which terrorised the population of a large part of Yorkshire for several years. The Yorkshire Post reports a second knife had been hidden in a police station toilet before he was searched. [84] As part of the research for the book, Clark and Tate claimed to have found evidence that pointed to the wrong man having been convicted for the Sewell murder, having unearthed a pathology report which allegedly indicated that the originally convicted Stephen Downing could not have committed the crime. In the series she questions whether the attitude of both the police and society towards women prevented Sutcliffe from being caught sooner. The decision to allow the temporary release was initiated by David Blunkett and ratified by Charles Clarke when he became Home Secretary. [101][92] For many years Sutcliffe was linked in the press to the murder of 42-year-old Marion Spence in Leeds on 10 June 1979, but a man had in fact been convicted of her murder in January 1980. Again he was interrupted and left his victim badly injured but alive. Birth City: Bingley, West Yorkshire. And how did he die? But the killer's true name Peter Sutcliffe is now notorious in England. In February 1975, he took redundancy and used half of the 400 pay-off to train as a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver. Over three months the police interviewed 5,000 men, including Sutcliffe. Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, has died in hospital after contracting Covid-19. [16] When Sonia completed the course in 1977 and began teaching, she and Sutcliffe used her salary to buy a house at 6 Garden Lane in Heaton, into which they moved on 26 September 1977, and where they were living at the time of Sutcliffe's arrest.[17]. The serial killer was serving a whole life term for murdering 13 women across Yorkshire and north-west England. He went on to describe all the attacks in a detailed confession that lasted 24 hours. Following his conviction, Sutcliffe began using his mother's maiden name of Coonan. West Yorkshire Police made it clear that the victims wished to remain anonymous. Sonia had several miscarriages, and they were informed that she would not be able to have children. When did he get caught? The 5 note, hidden in a secret compartment in Jordan's handbag, was traced to branches of the Midland Bank in Shipley and Bingley. [58] He found wanting Oldfield's focus on the hoax confessional tape[59]:8687 that seemed to indicate a perpetrator with a Wearside background,[60] and his ignoring advice from survivors of Sutcliffe's attacks and several eminent specialists, including from the FBI in the United States, along with dialect analysts[61] such as Stanley Ellis and Jack Windsor Lewis,[59]:88 whom he had also consulted throughout the manhunt, that "Wearside Jack" was a hoaxer. [13] She required multiple, extensive brain operations and had intermittent blackouts and chronic depression. [22] Claxton was four months pregnant when she was attacked, and lost the baby she was carrying. Peter Sutcliffe died in hospital aged 74 in . Name: Peter Sutcliffe. [44], When Sutcliffe was stripped at the police station he was wearing an inverted V-necked jumper under his trousers. While he was awaiting trial, he murdered two more women (Marguerite Walls and Jacqueline. [19], Sutcliffe is also known to have attacked eleven other women:[20] a woman of unknown name (Bradford 1969), Anna Rogulskyj (Keighley 1975), Olive Smelt (Halifax 1975), Tracy Browne (Silsden 1975), Marcella Claxton (Leeds 1976), Maureen Long (Bradford 1977) Marilyn Moore (Leeds 1977), Ann Rooney (Leeds 1979)[21] Upadhya Bandara (Leeds 1980), Mo Lea (Leeds 1980) and Theresa Sykes (Huddersfield 1980). [33] The police described her as the first "innocent" victim. [10], On 2 January 1981, Sutcliffe was stopped by the police with 24-year-old prostitute Olivia Reivers in the driveway of Light Trades House in Melbourne Avenue, Broomhill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire. [45], Sutcliffe was charged on 5 January 1981. The man who hoaxed detectives by claiming to be the Yorkshire Ripper has died, police have confirmed. Listening About Jack The Ripper Thank you very much for reading Listening About Jack The Ripper . The Yorkshire Ripper began his gruesome crusade of violence against women in 1975, when he killed 28-year-old mother-of-four Wilma McCann, 28 as she walked home from a night out in the early. Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, who murdered 13 women and attacked seven others between 1975 and 1980 across West Yorkshire, plus two in Greater Manchester. I see you are still having no luck catching me. [b] The investigation used it as a point of elimination rather than a line of enquiry and allowed Sutcliffe to avoid scrutiny, as he did not fit the profile of the sender of the tape or letters. [139], A three-part series of one-hour episodes, The Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story, by filmmaker Liza Williams aired on BBC Four in March 2019. Richardson was bludgeoned to death with a hammer. The trial proper was set to commence on 5 May 1981. [146], In February 2022, Channel 5 released a 60-minute documentary entitled The Ripper Speaks: The Lost Tapes, which recounts interviews and Sutcliffe speaking about life in prison and in Broadmoor Hospital, as well the crimes he had committed but which had not been seen or treated as "a Ripper killing".[147]. The Netflix series reveals that the serial killer had murdered 13 women and attempted to murder seven more between the years 1975 and 1980. Drug kingpin Rehman was caught out after being identified as an Encrochat user who had facilitated the sale of drugs worth over 4million in an 11-week period. [75], Yallop highlighted that Steel had always protested his innocence and been convicted on weak evidence. [2]:30, Sutcliffe attacked 20-year-old Marcella Claxton in Roundhay Park, Leeds, on 9 May. After a two-hour representation by the Attorney-General Sir Michael Havers, a ninety-minute lunch break, and another forty minutes of legal discussion, the judge rejected the diminished responsibility plea and the expert testimonies of the psychiatrists, insisting that the case should be dealt with by a jury. The findings were made fully public in 2006, and confirmed the validity of the criticism of the force. [68] Nina Lopez, who was one of the ECP protestors in 1981, told The Independent forty years later, Sir Michael's comments were "an indictment of the whole way in which the police and the establishment were dealing with the Yorkshire Ripper case". In October 2020, it was announced that ITV was to produce a new six-part drama series about the Ripper. [53] After his trial, Sutcliffe admitted two other attacks. [26] She later said, "I've been afraid to go out much because I feel people are staring and pointing at me. "[38], On 4 April 1979, Sutcliffe killed Josephine Whitaker, a 19-year-old building society clerk whom he attacked on Savile Park Moor in Halifax as she was walking home. Only days after Sutcliffe's conviction in 1981, crime writer David Yallop asserted that he may have been responsible for the murder of Carol Wilkinson, who was randomly bludgeoned over the head with a stone in Bradford on 10 October 1977, nine days after Sutcliffe's killing of Jean Jordan. [128][129], In 2017, West Yorkshire Police launched Operation Painthall to determine if Sutcliffe was guilty of unsolved crimes dating back to 1964. He reportedly refused treatment. The 74-year-old had been serving a life term for murdering 13 women across. A police check by probationary constable Robert Hydes revealed Sutcliffe's car had false number plates and he was arrested and transferred to Dewsbury Police Station in West Yorkshire. The search for Sutcliffe was one of the largest and most expensive manhunts in British history, and West Yorkshire Police was criticised for its failure to catch him despite having interviewed him nine times in the course of its five-year investigation. [69], Amongst other things, Byford's report asserted that there was a high likelihood of Sutcliffe having claimed more victims both during and before his known killing spree. [78] Clark and Tate claimed there were links between Sutcliffe and unsolved murders across the country, such as that of Jacqueline Ansell-Lamb and Barbara Mayo, Judith Roberts, Wendy Sewell, Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon, Carol Wilkinson and Patsy Morris. The investigation took a while to get off the ground because, at first, police didn't link the murders. [86] The killing took place only two days before Sutcliffe's known killing of Patricia Atkinson in Bradford. The police told him he was "very lucky", as the woman did not want anything more to do with the incident. He ran off when he saw the lights of a passing car, leaving his victim requiring brain surgery. [59]:83, In 1988, the mother of Sutcliffe's last victim, Jacqueline Hill, during an action for damages on behalf of her daughter's estate, argued in the case Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire in the High Court that the police had failed to use reasonable care in apprehending Sutcliffe. Her body was dumped at the rear of 13 Ashgrove under a pile of bricks, close to the university and her lodgings. [130] West Yorkshire Police later stated that it was "absolutely certain" that Sutcliffe had never been in Sweden. He left his friend Trevor Birdsall's minivan and walked up St. Paul's Road in Bradford until he was out of sight. [86][90] There were also two men on Hellawell's list of possible victims. Humble was remanded in custody and on 21 March 2006 was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison. [64] After Sutcliffe's death in November 2020, West Yorkshire Police issued an apology for the "language, tone, and terminology" used by the force at the time of the criminal investigation, nine months after one of the victims' sons wrote on behalf of several of the victims' families.[65]. He struck Rytka on the head five times as she exited his vehicle, before stripping most of the clothes from her body (although her bra and polo-neck jumper were positioned above her breasts) and repeatedly stabbing her in the chest. The "Wearside Jack" hoaxer was given unusual credibility when analysis of saliva on the envelopes he sent showed he had the same blood group as that which Sutcliffe had left at crime scenes, a type shared by only 6% of the population. Although Sutcliffe was interviewed about it, he was not investigated further (he was contacted and disregarded by the Ripper Squad on several further occasions). On Jan. 2, 1981, two police officers approached Sutcliffe, who was in a parked car in an area where prostitutes and their customers were commonly spotted. She survived and provided police with a description of her attacker. [86][88][87] Twelve of these occurred within West Yorkshire, while the others took place in other parts of the country. He went on a killing spree and was even a suspect of the cops, but by the time they put 2 and 2. The Yorkshire Ripper Is Finally Caught. [11] In his late adolescence, Sutcliffe developed a growing obsession with voyeurism, and spent much time spying on prostitutes and the men seeking their services. [125] On 9 March 2011, the Court of Appeal rejected Sutcliffe's application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. [105] The Mayo, Stratford and Weedon cases did not feature in the 2022 documentary version of Clark's book. [86] However, by 2002 West Yorkshire Police publicly announced they were ready to bring charges against Sutcliffe for her murder (although no further action was taken as his whole-life tariff was confirmed). Sutcliffe died from diabetes-related complications in hospital, while in prison custody on 13 November 2020, at the age of 74. I sometimes wish I had died in the attack. Despite the false lead, Sutcliffe was interviewed on at least two other occasions in 1979. An index card was created on the basis of the letter and a policewoman found Sutcliffe already had three existing index cards in the records. Initially, Peter Sutcliffe was only stopped by police in Sheffield because they suspected his car had false number plates. On 16 July 2010, the High Court issued Sutcliffe with a whole life tariff, meaning he was never to be released. [104] Derbyshire Constabulary dismissed the theory, pointing to the fact that a reinvestigation in 2002 had found that only Stephen Downing couldn't be ruled out of the investigation, and responded by stating that there was no evidence linking Sutcliffe to the crime. The murderer continued, going untraced over the next five years despite murdering 12 more women and attempting to kill seven others. Straw responded that whilst the matter of Sutcliffe's release was a parole board matter, "that all the evidence that I have seen on this case, and it's a great deal, suggests to me that there are no circumstances in which this man will be released".[117]. [28], On 27 August, Sutcliffe attacked 14-year-old Tracy Browne in Silsden, attacking her from behind and hitting her on the head five times while she was walking along a country lane. I'm Jack. When he was caught in 1981, after years of police missteps, lost . Tyre tracks left near the murder scene resulted in a long list of possible suspect vehicles. The chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Federation responded to this news with a. They made the point that women should be able to walk anywhere without restriction and that they should not be blamed for men's violence. In August 2016, it was ruled that he was mentally fit to be returned to prison, and he was transferred that month to HM Prison Frankland in County Durham. McCann, from Scott Hall in Leeds, was a mother of four children between the ages of 2 and 7. [141], A play written by Olivia Hirst and David Byrne, The Incident Room, premiered at Pleasance as part of the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 13 women were dead and the police seemed incapable of catching the killer. There, officers searched his car and discovered screwdrivers in the glove compartment. The tape contained a man's voice saying, "I'm Jack. Police spent five years pursuing the elusive killer - but Peter Sutcliffe was actually caught on a trivial pretext. [2]:36. On 25 November 1980, Birdsall sent an anonymous letter to police, the text of which ran as follows: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, I have good reason to now [sic] the man you are looking for in the Ripper case. [101][92] However, several aspects of the attack did not fit Sutcliffe's MO, particularly as she hit been hit from the front and had been the victim of a robbery. He was sitting in his car on an empty laneway on a quiet Friday night after new year's. Beside him in the passenger seat was a woman who, by the end of the weekend, would be grateful to be alive. He was arrested when they discovered the car had false plates, and brought. Although broadcast over two weeks, two episodes were shown consecutively each week. For five years, investigators had pursued every lead in an effort to stop. Police were able to trace the note back to the bank, which consequently narrowed their search down to around 8,000 people. On 10 January 1983, he followed Sutcliffe into the recess of F2, the hospital wing at Parkhurst, and plunged a broken coffee jar twice into the left side of Sutcliffe's face, creating four wounds requiring thirty stitches. The next day police returned to the scene of the arrest and discovered a knife, hammer, and rope he had discarded when he briefly slipped away from the police after telling them he was "bursting for a pee". 13 November 2020 . Harrison's murder had been linked to the Ripper killings by the "Wearside Jack" claim, but in 2011, DNA evidence revealed the crime had actually been committed by convicted sex offender Christopher Smith, who had died in 2008. 1". Peter Sutcliffe was a Bradford lorry driver who became known as the Yorkshire Ripper and . But "for some inexplicable reason", said the Byford Report, the papers remained in a filing tray in the incident room until the murderer's arrest on 2 January [1981], the following year.[69]. The series also starred Richard Ridings and James Laurenson as DSI Dick Holland and Chief Constable Ronald Gregory, respectively. Sutcliffe admitted he had hit her, but claimed it was with his hand. Sutcliffe was accompanied by four members of the hospital staff. [114], On 22 December 2007, Sutcliffe was attacked by fellow inmate Patrick Sureda, who lunged at him with a metal cutlery knife while shouting, "You fucking raping, murdering bastard, I'll blind your fucking other one!" Sutcliffe was interviewed nine times,[56] but all information the police had about the case was stored in paper form, making cross-referencing difficult, compounded by television appeals for information which generated thousands more documents. Give yourself up before another innocent woman dies". Shipley. Leeds in the late 1970s and early 1980s was a place of fear and suspicion as the hunt for one of Britain's most prolific killers dominated the city. [86] Although a hammer was not used, Sutcliffe also often used a knife to stab his victims. The Yorkshire Ripper was arrested in January 1981 The Ripper killings also brought the finger of suspicion to Leeds and the fear the killer was living among them. Many people do. I have the greatest respect for you, George, but Lord, you're no nearer catching me now than four years ago when I started."[39]. Information on suspects was stored on handwritten index cards. In April 1980, Peter Sutcliffe was arrested for drink driving. The sleeves had been pulled over his legs and the V-neck exposed his genital area. She resumed a teacher training course, during which time she had an affair with an ice-cream van driver. [104] The Home Office responded by stating that it would send any new evidence to the police. The play was produced by New Diorama.[142]. Despite matching several forensic clues and being on the list of 300 names in connection with the 5 note, he was not strongly suspected. Sutcliffe was finally arrested on January 2 1981, but it was several days before they revealed him to be the serial killer. According to his statement, Sutcliffe said, "I got out of the car, went across the road and hit her. The police then decided to do a . Birth Year: 1946. The last six attacks were on totally respectable women". [107] He began his sentence at HM Prison Parkhurst on 22 May 1981. In December 2020, Netflix released a four-part documentary entitled The Ripper, which recounts the police investigation into the murders with interviews from living victims, family members of victims and police officers involved in the investigation. Cat is Cosmopolitan UK's features editor covering women's issues, health and current affairs. The hoaxer, dubbed "Wearside Jack", sent two letters to police and the Daily Mirror in March 1978 boasting of his crimes. [78] Yallop continued to put forth the theory that Sutcliffe was the real killer. The sexual implications of this outfit were considered obvious but it was not known to the public until published in 2003. [123] The hearing for Sutcliffe's appeal against the ruling began on 30 November 2010 at the Court of Appeal. This included interviews with some of the victims, their family, police and journalists who covered the case. The courts in Yorkshire have been very busy with killers, sex predators and fraudsters all jailed in February . [121], Psychological reports describing Sutcliffe's mental state were taken into consideration, as was the severity of his crimes. History of notorious killer who brutally murdered 13women", "How police caught Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe in Sheffield 37years ago this week", "Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe victims", "Looking back: The Yorkshire Ripper investigation", "Restoring reputations of Yorkshire Ripper's victims after decades of victim-blaming", "Yorkshire Ripper serial killer Peter Sutcliffe dies", "Women who survived Sutcliffe's attacks also had to survive institutional sexism", "The Yorkshire Ripper was not a 'prostitute killer' now his forgotten victims need justice", "Daughter of Ripper victim kills herself", "Yorkshire Ripper: Who were serial killer Peter Sutcliffe's victims? [89], One of the cases investigated was an attack on student teacher Gloria Wood in November 1974, in which Wood was attacked as she walked home one evening in Bradford by a man who had asked if she needed help carrying her bags. [46] At his trial, he pleaded not guilty to thirteen charges of murder, but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. [91][93] However, some of the links between Sutcliffe and these cases would later be definitively disproven. Warning: This article contains details of violence some readers may find distressing. A report compiled on the visit was lost, despite a "comprehensive search" which took place after Sutcliffe's arrest, according to the report. No one felt safe - and every man was a suspect. [86][87] A list was complied of around sixty murders and attempted murders. The Yorkshire Ripper's ashes were scattered at a seaside beauty spot, his niece has said as she revealed the terrible impact he had on her life. I was just cleaning up the place a bit". [9][pageneeded], The first victim to be killed by Sutcliffe was Wilma McCann on 30 October. [85] In 2022, ITV broadcast a documentary based on Clark and Tate's book which discussed links between Wilkinson's murder and Sutcliffe. In November 2020, the man known as the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, died of COVID-19 at the age of 74. The Yorkshire Ripper has died at the age of 74 - nearly 40 years after he was convicted of murdering 13 women across the north of England. He had a number of underlying health problems, including obesity and diabetes. [92][102] Links were also made between Sutcliffe and the murder of 38-year-old Mary Gregson in Shipley in August 1977, but Sutcliffe was able to be ruled out with DNA after a profile of the killer was extracted in 1999, and in 2000 another man was convicted of the killing. [90] One of these was Fred Craven, a bookkeeper murdered with a hammer on the same street Sutcliffe lived on in Bingley in 1966, and whose daughter Sutcliffe was known to have approached and been rejected by. The Yorkshire Ripper case is one of those stories that you eventually just absorb if you're a true crime follower like me. He added that he was with Sutcliffe when he got out of a car to pursue a woman with whom he had had a bar room dispute in Halifax on 16 August 1975.